Jasmine Market: Third Time’s a Charm

***I’M GOING TO NEW YORK!***

Yes, another trip to Manhattan. The flight is booked, the hotel is reserved. I’m already planning my long morning walks through Central Park and dodging traffic to grab a plate of eggs and lox. And while I’m at it, I’m also devising my plan to net me a New York Jew. Yes, the Jewish men of NYC better watch out come March 24th.

So, that was the positive news – the NY-going. But there’s a downside…I’m horribly poor as a result of that (AND Phantom of the Opera, AND all my eating out, AND the shopping, AND…) Though I’ve made a resolution to stay in for dinner and eat canned tuna, I couldn’t possibly have passed up a chance to eat with Theresa. Still, economizing was the key word and, with that in mind, I suggested a visit to Jasmine Market in Culver City.

Jasmine Market and I go way back. Brian and I heard about this place served Burmese food and, after falling in love with the Burmese tea leaf salad back in San Fran, B insisted that we had to check this place out. Of all the days we decided to go, we went on the only day of the week that they were closed (Monday). The second time, we went on a non-Monday weekday, only to realize that the Burmese menu was offered only during the weekend. Well, we threw in the towel and took a forty minute drive out to Whittier instead to eat at Golden Triangle (review to come later).

So I have eaten at Jasmine Market before – albeit from their Indian menu. And it was good. Very good. But what’s better than very good food? Very good CHEAP food. I had the aloo puri for only $2.99 and that was enough to keep me full for the rest of the night.

Having said that though, I was still itching to try the Burmese menu. The Burmese menu is still fairly limited (five items as opposed to Golden Triangle’s sixty-three page menu) so I ended up getting the same thing I had at GT – the Moh Hin Nga/Catfish Chowder with Noodles ($3.49). On top of that, I ordered a side of naan ($0.99) and a can of coconut juice ($2.25). I LOVE all the complex flavors in Moh Hin Nga (English spellings vary) and the Jasmine Market version – which was about four dollars cheaper – was in no way inferior to the one at Golden Triangle. My favorite part is the fried split beans :) I could them like chips out of a bag. I also love all the bread from Jasmine Market. Yes, be warned, it’s greasier than most other places – the naan comes to the tables with a glistening film of grease…it sounds disgusting but that becomes a moot point given the soft, fluffy goodness of the bread. It was amazing paired with the catfish chowder but I really didn’t need to order it – the rice noodles in the chowder was more than enough carbs and I was full before I had finished half my order of naan. But, I always hate to waste good food (that’s a euphemism for “I’m a bottomless pit”) so I finished everything. I took a bite of rice from Theresa’s Chicken Biryani ($5.99) and fell in love. Too bad they only serve their biryanis with meat…I guess I could order a biryani dish and leave the meat. Yes, it was that good.

(Moh Hin Nga: Catfish, Banana Root, Fried Split Bean, Rice Noodle, Cilantro, Egg, Oh My!)

In terms of the restaurant itself, it’s a completely no-frills, B-grade place (yes, they serve their food in polyester dishes. Not very eco-friendly at all). It’s half ethnic market half eatery. That should already give you a picture of what kind of place it is. It just so happens that I like those kinds of places. On top of that, the owner is super friendly – he puts a giant smile on my face :D If you're looking for BURMESE food, hop on the 605 and go to Golden Triangle instead. But if you want simple ethnic Asian fare that costs less than a Starbucks coffee, there's a place in Culver City that requires your patronage!

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 5/5
ATMOSPHERE: 1.5/5 (objective) 4/5 (personal)

JASMINE MARKET ($)
4135 1/2 Sepulveda Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 313-3767

The Waffle: The Difficulty of Procuring a Plate of Eggs and a Hot Chocolate

After a night of watching Phantom of the Opera (the production) and falling in love with the Phantom of the Opera (the character), I pulled out my list of late-night eateries for Sunny to GPS. Given that I was still freshly-depressed from the injustices done to the Phantom, an endorphin-rich vanilla custard-soaked berry French toast didn’t exactly seem like a bad idea.

(If-only-there-was-more-bread French Toast)

The three of us arrived at the half-full/empty Waffle. There were plenty of waitstaff around but it took about a minute before one of them acknowledged us and guided us to a table. Fine, whatever, I didn’t think too much about it. The three of us were handed two menus and our waitress promised she’d be back with another menu. She lied. But again, whatevs, I already knew that I would be ordering the French toast so, no biggie. Plus, all I had to do was ask another server for a menu. We ordered, waited and then what? They got Deb’s order of eggs with corned beef wrong. They took forever to bring Sunny’s hot chocolate (seriously, how long does it take to make a hot chocolate?)

Having said that though, the waiters/waitresses were really friendly. They kept apologizing for getting the order wrong. They were super incompetent (and the restaurant wasn’t even busy!) but, at the very least, they were all super nice and friendly. The French toast was pretty good but I still prefer Asian ones. It’s the bread – the Waffle FT has massive potential but they should switch to Challah bread or some other thicker variety so it can REALLY soak up the custardy goodness. Plus, a thicker bread will also probably better justify it being at $9.00 a pop. The waffle sure ain’t cheap.

FOOD: 3/5
SERVICE: 2/5
ATMOSPHERE: 3.5/5

THE WAFFLE ($)
6255 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028 (323) 465-6901
http://www.thewaffle.us

Jin Patisserie: A Three Year Dream

Three years ago, I was desperately trying to convince myself that moving to Los Angeles wouldn’t be that bad. Sure, it wasn’t New York but at least I had two things to comfort me:

1) Knowing that Elliott Yamin* was planning to further his “career” in LA and
2) Jin Patisserie

My fascination with #2 occurred when I stumbled upon Rick Poon’s amazing photography site a long time ago. He would always be raving about this-and-that at this place called “Jin Patisserie” in Venice, CA. I was excited about all the this-and-thats he talked about. But I lived my first year in LA, I lived my second year in LA, I was well into my third year…and still, I had never ventured out to Jin. Why? One word explains it all: CAR. That’s right, Venice might as well have been the other side of the Pacific for me during the two years we were car-less in LA. I had been to Venice once but that was at night, after Jin had already closed up for the day. So you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I heard that Jin was opening a branch at the nearby Intercontinental hotel. I received their e-invite to the opening CHOCOLATE DESSERT PARTY and, without thinking twice, forwarded it to Debs and Sunny, called the place up, and made reservations for three.

The set menu consisted of an assortment of finger sandwiches (Roast Beef w/Brie Cheese, Egg Salad, Cream Cheese Tomato - nothing special there) and a mini dessert platter each. OHOHOHO. I was SO ready. A small pot of Spicy Milk Chocolate Mousse with Mango glistened on my left; a White Chocolate with Peach Compote and Yuzu Jelly filled a giant shot-glass, topped with a mini tuille cookie; a mini square of Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie was flecked with sweet peanut nibs and, at the very end of the plate, a Baked Chocolate Tart with Pineapple and Pistachio. The platter should’ve been my dream-come-true.

…But it wasn’t. Three years of waiting and I was far from blown away from the dessert sampler. The brownie was the best out of the four desserts but even that was just good – not great. Yes, I was disappointed. But I was also determined not to give up on Jin just yet. After all, these weren’t their signature desserts. Nope, Rick P had always raved about their macarons…THAT was what I was here for.

(The best of the lot: the Brownie)

Oh-SO-good! They put the macarons from Paris Pastry to shame (and they were $12.00 for eight! Where does Paris Pastry get off charging $2.50/macaron?!) How do I even begin to describe the meringue shells? A delicate, crunchy shell which hides a soft and chewy, light-as-air mass of perfect sweetness. My favorite was probably the cream cheese macaron (of course) – sweet and tart in a biteful…and in the prettiest pink shade! The caramel macaroon also kicked major butt as did the rose flavor – I’ve had rose macaron before but Jin’s really drew out the flavor like nothing else. Yes, the macaroons more than redeemed the disappointment of the dessert platter.

(You are so beautiful to me: (From left) rose, caramel, violet w/ cranberries, chocolate)

FOOD: 4.5/5
SERVICE: 4.5/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4/5

JIN PATISSERIE (Intercontinental Branch) ($)
2151 Avenue of Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 789-6485
http://www.jinpatisserie.com/

* Elliott Yamin has since grown out his hair and is no longer attractive to me.

SugarFISH: Pretty. Good. Pretty Good.

I headed out to Marina del Rey with Reno (note: the name has NO geographical implications about his person) to check out Sushi Nozawa’s “hip” sister restaurant, SugarFISH. And how do we know its hip?

a) It’s called SugarFISH instead of some Japanese word that ends with a vowel (Nozawa, Asanebo, Katsu-ya, etc.)
b) 98% of the patrons are non-Japanese. 100% of the waitstaff are non-Japanese.
c) Wood is not a prominent feature of the interior.
d) The chef doesn’t matter.

Well, SugarFISH does and does not fulfill criteria d). I mean, it IS Chef Kazunori Nozawa’s restaurant and he DOES matter in the LA Sushi circuit. At the same time, his connection to the restaurant probably extends just to the fact that he was the one to sign the lease to the restaurant space. Usually, I veer away from “hip” sushi joints but given the Nozawa connection (regardless of how minute that connection may be) and the fact that it at least has the authenticness to forego the American rolls, I thought I’d give it a try.

The place was definitely cute. That is, minimalism with bright, happy colors. We were promptly seated and went with the flow by ordering two “trust me” sets. In understandable terms, the “trust me” is American for “omakase” but given the fact that Nozawa isn’t actually present for you to trust and the menu is pre-set and displayed on the high-tech TV screen, it’s not really omakase…oh wait, yes it is – I already said it, it’s AMERICAN omakase.

First up was the tuna sashimi. Good, not great. I’m not a fan of ponzu sauce and it was drenched in that. I didn’t hate it or anything but it wasn’t something to rave about either. Next was the salmon nigiri and albacore nigiri. Not unlike most other people, salmon is one of my favorite sushi choices…but here, it was COMPLETELY OVERSHADOWED by the albacore. Actually, everything else that night was overshadowed by the albacore. It was ohhhhh-so-good; literally melt-in-your-mouth. Plus, Reno and I weren’t crazy about the sesame on the salmon nigiri – the salmon was already a compromised size and the sesame flavor overwhelmed the taste of the fish. The waitstaff were attentive but I won’t lie – they got on my nerves a little with their enthusiasm to clear plates. I was midchew of my last piece of albacore nigiri when they swooped in and took my plate away. I mean, yes, the plate IS empty but I don’t want the staff to invade my space when I’m gnawing on a mouthful of raw fish and rice. Anyhow, that’s beside the point. The void space in front of me was promptly replaced by a plate with four toro rolls and four crab rolls.

Here’s where Reno and I differed – he was more into the crab (which reminded me too much of canned tuna and mayo) and I was alllllllll about the toro (which was “too slimy” for his taste). Well, I happen to like “slimy” foods (raw oysters anyone?) so the toro made me a happy person.

We were beginning to get full by the time we finished our rolls so I had no qualms about the next “course” being the last: two pieces of yellowtail nigiri and two pieces of “Nozawa style” shrimp. Both Reno and I don’t care too much for cooked shrimp sushi so we pretty much just glossed over that. Plus, they did the sesame thing AGAIN. Seriously, someone needs to take the sesame away from the SugarFISH kitchen…and maybe take away the all-caps ridiculousness of the second half of the restaurant name. And the hamachi? Hmmm…I think we were both conflicted about that. Reno mentioned a “sour” taste which – given the fact that it IS raw fish – freaked me out at first (and when it comes to acuteness of the senses, I trust Reno. After all, he insists on smelling his food before putting it in his mouth). I took a bite of the hamachi and, thankfully, it wasn’t the sour in the way bad fish would be. It’s a hard taste to describe but yes, it wasn’t that mild, creamy taste that the albacore had. And I was put off by the fact that I actually had to BITE into the hamachi. Yes, yes, I’ve just been too spoilt by the albacore…but who wouldn’t be after experiencing fish just dissolving by itself into a mass of loveliness on the tongue?

On specifics though, I wasn’t feeling the rice. It fell apart easily and that, combined with my feeble chopstick skills amounted to a small mountain of rice in the soy sauce dish (I lie. I’m actually quite fantastic with chopsticks…but just not, for some reason, when it comes to sushi). Reno mentioned that it could be because of a lessened amount of rice vinegar. Most probably. After all, the rice had none of that tart taste I like so much. Oh well, they ARE catering to the 98% white/”AZN” clientele. On top of that, the wasabi was mild as hell (again, the clientele explains this). I could eat an ice-cream scoop of that and not feel a thing.

The “trust me” was $26 sans tax and tips. Not bad at all given how much food there was. Would I go back? Probably not. It’s a cute place and the food is good but not stellar. But I’m on a tight schedule (less than THREE MONTHS LEFT!!) and there are too many other places to try. But even without the time-constraint, I think I’ll stick with places like Sushi Masu. I’ll leave SugarFISH to the i-Phone toting generation.

FOOD: 3/5
SERVICE: 3/5
ATMOSPHERE: 3.5/5

SugarFISH ($$)
4722 1/4 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
(310) 306-6300
www.sugarfishsushi.com

*Note: I just realized I’ve been having a massive, UNINTENDED seafood+rice fiesta. Seafood fried rice, paella, and now sushi? Just thought I’d share that information.

Spain: Don't Think There's Pain in Barcelona

My love for Spanish food stems from the family dinners we used to have at El Cid back home when I was younger. In fact, El Cid was the family’s favorite restaurant and it was the one “gweilo” restaurant that my grandma approved of. We liked it so much that we would put up with the obnoxious escalator plan at Festival Walk just so we could eat there. Yes, the fond memories of pan con tomate, chorizo, their salt-baked whole fish and of course…paella del mar.

But alas, all good things must come to an end. When El Cid closed down their Festival Walk branch, we were all devastated. I was deeply traumatized and haven’t had Spanish food again since, for fear that it would be brutally snatched away from me again. I didn’t want to be hurt again…so I blocked out Spanish food altogether.

Well, two nights ago, I decided to re-embrace Spanish food. My wound still hadn’t healed completely but something at the back of my mind kept telling me that it was time to be brave and eat Paella again. Be brave. So off we went, Sunny at the wheel, driving us all to faraway Glendale.

About forty minutes of Los Angeles traffic later, we finally arrived at the way-too-small parking lot in front of Spain. Another hole-in-the-wall place with a garish red interior and a mini “market” inside. Just the kind of setting that usually promises good food. There was a healthy crowd and we were quickly seated and menued. The Paella de Mar ($24.99 for two person order, extra $ for larger portion) was as good as ordered and we decided to order two tapas on top of that – the ensulada de atun/potato salad with tuna ($6.49) and the champignones al ajillo/mushrooms sautéed with garlic ($7.49).


We enjoyed both the tapas. The potato with tuna tasted like regular deli-style tuna salad but I was fine with that because a) after all, it IS salad with tuna…what else would I expect? And b) I love deli-style tuna salad. But I think I loved the breadbasket most :). Crunchy crust with a pillowy inside…I ate it by itself, I ate it with the tuna, I ate it.

But all came to a halt when the Paella arrived at the table. After all those years, here it was again in front of me – deep yellow and flecked with the treasures of the ocean. No joke, Spain was REALLY LIBERAL with the seafood – mussels, clams, prawns, scampi, crab legs, squid, fish…you get the idea. I put several spoonfuls onto my plate. Waited…and then took my first bite.


How stupid was I to have abstained from Spanish food for all these years? All that Paella-eating-time wasted. OHMYGAAAAWD it was sooooooo good. Every granule of rice has soaked up the rich flavor of the seafood broth and saffron. Literally, you don’t actually need to eat the seafood to taste the seafood! Add a squeeze of lime and it turns into something I will never ever tire of eating. The seafood was well-cooked…especially the white fish. The bite-sized chunks were so tender I could feed it to a newborn baby (but I won’t…I’d feed it to myself). We kept eating until we were stuffed…and even then we kept eating. And we STILL had leftovers. WTF?

(LOVE in rice form)

The total came to about $60 for 3 people with tips and tax. I didn’t know but they added an extra half order to our Paella so it was actually $37.99 instead of $24.99. I thought the tapas were probably a little expensive for the size and for what they were (I mean, almost $8.00 for a small bowl of mushrooms is a little much). But given how much of the paella we had left over, I reckon, the next time we come here (which we definitely will be doing), we can just order one tapa and a two-people portion of Paella and be set.Yes, we WERE stuffed, but we’re also gross pigs so we drove out to West Hollywood and had dessert at MILK. I couldn’t do the giant brownie sundae again (but mmmm…so good) so I had a slice of chocolate banana bread ($2.50). Awesome!

FOOD: 5/5
SERVICE: 3/5
ATMOSPHERE: 3.5/5

SPAIN ($$)
1866 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 667-9045
http://www.restaurantspain.net

MILK ($)
7290 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 939-6455
http://www.themilkshop.com

Natalie Peruvian: Eat Your Greens!

I don’t usually spend my Friday nights in the industrialized part of Hollywood, trekking over the 101 freeway but I found myself doing just that on my way to meet Moeha and Claudia for dinner. I arrived at the restaurant the earliest and, not wanting to fight the biting wind and the scary homeless man in the parking lot, I nipped into the tiny hole-in-the-wall store and waited inside.

Moeha had suggested this place – Natalie Peruvian Seafood Restaurant – and I had a good feeling about the place already. The place was kitschy cozy – the type of place an old Peruvian couple would go to, to linger under the television and watch soccer or read the Peruvian papers they have at the counter. I was in mid-perusal of the extensive menu when Moeha and Claudia arrived and with three brains pooled together, we finally settled on our order (yes, it was a very difficult task).

We ordered the fried calamari and the ceviche mixto as appetizers and the sautéed shrimp dish and the arroz chaufa de mariscos dish (Peruvian seafood fried rice) to split between us. The portions are huge. Really. I could bathe my future baby in the bowl that the fried rice came in! And what about the taste? Absolutely awesome!

I luuuuuurve ceviche. I mean, “raw” fish in a tangy lime sauce…what’s there not to like? Natalie’s also piles on a mountain of raw red onions (ya, our breath stunk afterwards but we weren’t on a date so whatevs) which kicked the ceviche up a notch. It was amazing…the perfect dish to rev up the appetite. Same praise for the calamari. And God Bless Natalie, whoever she is, for her dish of sautéed shrimps. Cooked perfectly and flavored with A LOT O’ garlic. MMmmmm. But even the garlic shrimp had to give way to the seafood fried rice. The fried rice wasn’t good…it was EFFIN’ AMAZING!! It’s somewhat like Chinese fried rice (it even had green onions!) but also distinctly Peruvian (I’m going to venture a guess and say that it’s the sauce that they fry the rice in). And it was loaded with seafood! The rice soaked up all the beautiful flavors of the sauce and of the seafood and I found myself spooning more of the rice onto my plate even though I was way past stuffed.

Having been a fish-etarian for close to four months now, this place was perfect for me. That being said, however, if you’re a straight-up vegetarian, you can forget about Natalie’s. The vegetable component of a typical meal here amounts to about three leaves of lettuce (as a ‘bed’ for the meat) and a sprinkling of red onions (as a garnish for the meat). That’s it. But maybe that won’t matter…because at Natalie’s, “greens” takes on an entirely different meaning:

It’s the aji sauce.

A bright green, creamy and mildly spicy concoction of goodness. It was brought to the table along with the bread and I’ve waited until the end to bring it up because it really deserves special mention. I was tempted to stick a straw into that vat of sauce and consume the whole thing but I managed to retain some small degree of social decorum and resorted instead to scooping spoonfuls of that Godsent sauce over everything that was brought to the table. Even though the garlicy shrimp was awesome, I have to confess that I was more excited about the white rice it was served with because it provided the perfect canvas for me to (very liberally) decorate with aji sauce. Yes, it was that good.

By the end of the meal, I had fallen madly in love with Peruvian food. And on top of that great meal, the waitstaff are super friendly and helpful. We were stuffed but still had about two meals worth of food left over…and all that still came out to only $20 a person! Wow.

Oh, Peru. I Love. YOU.

FOOD: 4.5/5
SERVICE: 4.5/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4/5

Natalie Peruvian Seafood Restaurant ($$)
5759 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 463-8340

Gordon Ramsay. America Bites the Hand that Feeds You.

*For those who do not enjoy reading paragraph upon paragraph of prose (i.e. econ/science/engineering majors), please scroll down to the very bottom.

**NO PICTURES??! That’s right. I’ve decided to forego pictures until I get a Digital SLR. I could get color film for my Canon EOS 5 but then again, it’s always loaded with a half-finished roll of black-and-white. And from personal experience, a SHITTY FOOD PICTURE can do horrible injustice to a restaurant.


THE PROLOGUE

I like to think of myself as being an able eater. That is, I do not order a side salad and pretend that it’s a meal and whenever I say the words “Man, am I full,” it’s tinged with a self-congratulatory smile rather than the guilty mentality that I need to bolt home and do a million crunches.
Given that, one must take into consideration that even Achilles had his weak heel. Yes, I can readily finish a three-person serving of “Crystal Buns” (i.e. Egg custard enrobed by processed carbohydrates); yes, I can gulf down a fatty slice of Susina cake. Yes. But even with all that food cred, I balk at the notion of a slice from Sweet Lady Jane.
A piece of cake from SLJ is made up of roughly 98% sugar and 2% everything (if there IS anything…perhaps food coloring?) else. I was uncomfortably full for a total of 48 hours – and counting – after enduring a slice of their Princess cake. Sure, the cakes are painstakingly decorated but that’s all – there is no other delicacy in its preparation. Sweet Lady Jane is the realization of American brute gluttony – a gluttony which makes even a glutton like me run for the hills and desire to live the next 30 days on nothing but watercress and hummus.

THE STORY

Enter Gordon Ramsay’s.

This place was actually a set-up for personal food skepticism:

1) There’s the danger that the food will suck because the restaurant will try to ride on the mere coattails of its “celebrity’ chef association.
2) Said ‘celebrity chef’ is British and the Americans here are all too ready to lap up anything that is connected with that country. No joke. I have physically witnessed incidents wherein quite physically-attractive American females were excited by deformed male species simply due to the fact that said male species possessed a “British accent”
3) The restaurant is “Asian-fusion” and that in itself is a danger zone, especially in LA.

Having said that, point #3 actually worked out as an advantage – especially given the Sweet Lady Jane incident of two nights prior. Portions were far from stingy but given the “Asian” twist, were also a welcome respite to American sizes. There was also a careful delicacy which is so often absent in American fare; instead of having SALT and FAT as the primary components of savory dishes and SUGAR as the main ingredient of sweet dishes, Ramsay’s took on the eastern tradition of creating strong flavors by BLENDING several subtle ingredients. And for the first time in my life, I was thankful for the existence of “Asian Fusion.”

Despite the London’s awkward location, which, I must confess, I actually liked (it’s sure to shatter some American romantic ideologies when the LONDON hotel is situated right across from Aahs and is two blocks down from Hustler) and its SLIGHT inclination towards the gaudy with its ivory-and-gold interior, the restaurant itself is understatedly refined or, in other words, chic. Padded chairs of cream and subtle pink are positioned around tables set with bouquets of elegant white roses and it’s all done so that there is no “look-but-don’t-touch” sign hanging over the air.

In terms of the food, the confit beet salad with ricotta and endive was a perfect start. I’m big about root veggies so beets were right up my alley. Plus, I could tell that whoever put the salad together took care in how the dish was concocted: the ricotta wasn’t carelessly sprinkled over the salad, which would be too easy. Rather, it was subtly incorporated as the base layer (very unusual…but in a good way) so that I had a bit of creamy ricotta in every bite.

For the main, I opted for the Jerusalem Artichoke Risotto with artichoke chips, black truffle and sherry caramel reduction. I’m still on my meatless diet so I couldn’t get the Ox-Cheek but Sunny and Debs confirmed that the Ox-Cheek was, in their mid-chew words, “Awy-my-gawd. So tendre.” So what about the risotto then? I was a little skeptical at first. It looked like jook (i.e. Chinese porridge which costs an average of HK$1.50 per serving vs. the US$20 that Gordon charged for this dish, a la carte), and it did taste like jook. BUT, it tasted like jook WITH black truffle and isn’t that something to take into consideration? What I really liked about the dish was that the truffle flavor was distinct but yet, wasn’t overpowering to the point where you suspect the chef to have just thrown in a bunch of expensive ingredients with the hope that the LA yuppie crowd would lap it all up. I never bought into the whole Stanley Ho ideology when it came to truffles and other luxury ingredients; my Hong Kong upbringing has taught me that abalone which costs an arm and leg can still taste like classroom eraser while noodles prepared by the wife-beater-adorned old man in Causeway Bay can taste like a bowl of pure gold. And I think this upbringing explains why I liked to risotto as much as I did. That is, because the chef decided to make the common artichoke as much the star as the truffle. A bite of the risotto itself was alright. A bite of the risotto with the artichoke “chips” was effin’ fantastic.

And then came dessert. I was actually most looking forward to this course because: a) it was dessert and b) I was ordering the Coconut Tapioca. For those who don’t know me too well, I am ALLLLL about the coconut. Steamed, raw, baked, fried, rain, shine, winter, spring – I LOVE coconut. And since I firmly believe that the Southeast Asians are the proprietors of coconut preparation, I was more than ecstatic to see “coconut tapioca” on the menu. Not that the dessert (Chilled Coconut Tapioca - with candied ginger, passion fruit and milk chocolate-star anise ice cream) was disgusting or anything – I was more than happy to finish the whole thing – but it just wasn’t coconutty at all. To put it in more understandable terms, it was the exemplum of having ‘too much food on the plate.’ I LOVE coconut. I LOVE tapioca. I LOVE candied ginger. I LOVE milk chocolate ice cream. But if you put it all together…something’s bound to suffer. The dessert was definitely ambitious (and kudos to that) but in trying to combine all those bold Asian flavors, the dish lost any remnant of coconutness. So yes, I would give the dessert five shining stars if it had simply been a ‘chilled tapioca with candied ginger, passion fruit and milk chocolate-star anise ice cream.’ But alas, it was supposed to be a ‘COCONUT repeat-the-long-name-above’ and it didn’t exactly deliver that.

Service was friendly and if I were to name one flaw, it would be that the staff were too eager. And, if anything, that’s a good flaw rather than a bad one. Our waitress explained each dish upon its arrival and I thought it a bonus that they addressed the fact that the mushroom Veloute had short-ribs in it – a perfect demonstration of their concern for those with dietary restrictions.

I finished off the meal with a vat of their coffee which came in an Asian teapot (bonus note: their serve-ware is gorgeous). The coffee cost a hefty $6.00 but there was enough in that pot to satisfy the needs of a college kid during finals week. It was fairly mild though but then again, I didn’t expect much of coffee from a ‘British’ establishment in America (double whammy!)

THE CONCLUSION

All in all, Gordon Ramsay at the London hotel lives up to the hype even though it doesn’t transcend it. Personally, I would contemplate going again if I weren’t trying to fit in all the 238392 restaurants I have to patronize before I leave Los Angeles. Given that though, I would recommend it more as a Lunch Restaurant than a Dinner Restaurant; it’s a Miu Miu, not a Prada. It’s not a diss – after all, who doesn’t love Miu Miu?

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 4.5/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4.5/5

GORDON RAMSAY AT THE LONDON WEST HOLLYWOOD ($$$)
1020 N. San Vicente Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
310.854.1111
thelondonwesthollywood.com